John Legend collaborator gets a 'Lift' with Sony

02/03/2006 9:04 PM, Reuters
Gail Mitchell

While the eight Grammy Award nominations John Legend received for his debut album "Get Lifted" have certainly raised his status, the profile of some of his colleagues has risen as well.

Songwriter/producer Dave Tozer, who worked on eight tracks on "Get Lifted," has signed a deal to produce and write for acts across the Sony Music Label Group.

Concurrently, he has renewed his worldwide co-publishing agreement with Famous Music Publishing.

Tozer's Sony Music pact is nonexclusive and covers all the Sony labels, including Sony Urban, Columbia and Epic. His most recent credits include songs for R&B singer Heather Headley, pop artist Natasha Bedingfield and British rapper/singer Estelle. Tozer is also working with another British newcomer on Sony, R&B singer Shean Williams. Williams and Epic's Bedingfield are the first Sony artists that Tozer is working with under his new production agreement.

Tozer is also preparing to return to the studio in late February/early March to start recording Legend's sophomore set.

Among the "Get Lifted" tracks Tozer contributed to are "I Can Change" featuring Snoop Dogg, the Kanye West-produced "Let's Get Lifted" and "Stay With You," which received a Grammy nomination for best traditional R&B performance. That song was also heard last year on two TV shows, UPN's "Kevin Hill" and NBC's "Medium."

Tozer says he and Legend have a few songs from their "Get Lifted" collaborations that may be considered for Legend's new album. Beyond that, nothing definite has been decided regarding the album's musical direction.

Tozer notes, however, that the pair approaches the creative process in "an organic way. He's more of a keyboardist; I'm a guitarist. But we're both songwriting aficionados. At the core, it has to be a moving song. Plus we like changes and moods in our music. We don't want to get bogged down in one bag."

Legend and Tozer have been writing together since they first met in 1998. South Jersey native Tozer was a studio musician in Philadelphia (where he remains based), and Legend was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. After meeting through a mutual friend, the pair began collaborating on demos. Tozer later became the guitarist/musical director of Legend's band before the latter signed with West's Columbia/Sony Music imprint G.O.O.D. (Getting Out Our Dreams).

As a musician, Tozer appeared on West's "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," which is up for a Grammy for best rap song. Tozer was also a producer on another album that earned several Grammy nominations: the Luther Vandross tribute "So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute." He produced Legend's cover of "Love Won't Let Me Wait."

Reuters/Billboard